Mom's Last Words to Boyfriend Were 'Love You' Before She Fell to Her Death Trying to Help Driver in Canyon

Mom's Last Words to Boyfriend Were 'Love You' Before She Fell to Her Death Trying to Help Driver in Canyon

“This isn’t the way she should have left us or passed away, but I’m glad that she was doing what she loved; she loved to help people,“ Jenna Guerra's son said

Sam Gillette

Mon, January 19, 2026 at 11:02 PM UTC

3 min read

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Jenna Rose Guerra/Facebook Jenna Guerra — Jenna Rose Guerra/Facebook
Jenna Guerra

NEED TO KNOW

A 41-year-old mom fell to her death while trying to help another driver on the side of a highway in Utah on Jan. 9
Now, her family is remembering her generous spirit as they raise funds to bring her body home to North Carolina
"This isn’t the way she should have left us," one of her sons said

A 41-year-old mom and U.S. Army veteran died after she fell 70 feet off a bridge earlier this month while trying to help someone who was stranded on the side of a Utah highway.

Her final words to her partner were “love you.”

On Friday, Jan. 9, around 6 a.m. local time, Jenna Guerra was driving through Weber Canyon when she saw a car on the side of the road following a crash at milepost 90, where a bridge crosses over railroad tracks, ABC affiliate KTVX reported.

The mom of two, from North Carolina, had recently started a trucking business with her boyfriend, Joby Arnette, who was with her in the vehicle.

They were traveling from Tennessee to Washington state when Guerra stopped after a patch of black ice sent the car right in front of them into the concrete barrier.

“She pulled over, and she was gonna go and make sure everybody’s okay, because that’s a normal thing [for her],” Arnette told the outlet.

He was putting on his shoes so he could get out to assist his girlfriend.

But “she turned around, said, ‘Love you.’ I said, ‘I love you,' ” Arnette recalled, according to the outlet.

Then her act of kindness turned into tragedy: Guerra heard a third car coming on Interstate 84 that was trying to stop, and she jumped over the nearby barrier so she wouldn’t get hit, KTVX, FOX affiliate KSTU and CBS affiliate WNCN reported.

“I heard some tires squealing, and I come on out of the truck and started walking back there, and she was gone,” Arnetted told KTVX. “I didn’t see her anywhere.”

Guerra died after falling from the roady, according to the outlets. (The Utah Highway Patrol did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.)

Her two sons say they take solace in knowing that she was aiding others.

“This isn’t the way she should have left us or passed away, but I’m glad that she was doing what she loved; she loved to help people,” Guerra’s teen son, Lucas, told WNCN.

Guerra worked as a dental technician and served in the Army before she was honorably discharged in 2011, her family told the outlet. Her selflessness and generosity guided everything she did, they said.

Now, loved ones are raising funds to help bring her remains back to North Carolina. “We are asking for help to bring Jenna home to her children,” wrote the organizer of a GoFundMe.

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As Lucas remembers his mom, he is also mourning the future they won’t be able to share.

“I always hoped that she could see what I would do with my life, and I know she was so proud of me and [her other son Sebastian],” he told KTVX, “and her not being able to see us grow up and all the things I’ll do with my life is really tough.”

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